Latest California Healthline Stories
State Still Looks to Dun County Funds in Medi-Cal Expansion Proposal
The optional expansion of Medi-Cal will be administered using a state-based approach rather than the county-based plan being considered by California officials, the governor said yesterday when he proposed his May revise, the mid-year revision of the state budget.
That comes as welcome news to county health officials who have cautioned for months that a county-based system would be more confusing and costly than a state-based approach.
Gov. Jerry Brown listened, apparently.
“We want to do it generously, and boldly,” Brown said of the optional expansion. “There are some questions out there, so we want to do it prudently. It’s a matter of equity, and it’s something we’ll work out over the next few years.”
What the Oregon Study Says (or Doesn’t) About Medicaid
Health care observers have claimed the results of the Oregon Health Study for their own, shaping its findings to fit their arguments about Medicaid and its expansion under Obamacare. Are the results too heavily emphasized considering the study’s limitations?
Stop-Loss Bill Heads for Senate Floor Vote
The Senate Committee on Appropriations yesterday approved a bill to ban a certain type of selection criteria when insurers issue stop-loss health care coverage to small employers.
The bill was one of a small mountain of bills before the Appropriations committee yesterday. The policy committees have finished their legislative work for this session, and bills need to either clear Appropriations this week or be put on suspense to wait for next session. The committee yesterday put 76 proposed laws on the suspense file.
Health Information Sharing Deal Announced
The health information world in California is getting more connected. Many large and small HIE networks have signed an agreement to share information, state officials announced last week at the annual HIE Summit in Sacramento.
“We have been working with the leadership of HIE around California to help them establish self-governance of exchanges across the state,” said Pamela Lane, deputy secretary of health information exchange for the state’s Health and Human Services agency.
Lane said there has been an information-sharing gap between the large HIE systems — such as Kaiser, the Veterans Administration and Sutter Health — and the smaller, community HIE systems. Getting those disparate groups to agree to share information has been difficult, she said.
$2-Per-Pack Tobacco Tax Clears First of Legislative Hurdles
A new bill proposing to raise the state tax on tobacco by $2 per pack of cigarettes cleared its first two committees in the California Legislature last week. The tax would push the price of cigarettes beyond $8 a pack and move California from 33rd in the country to fourth in tobacco taxation.
State’s Proposed Scope-of-Practice Changes Designed To Expand Access to Abortions
Assembly member Toni Atkins, Camille Giglio of the California Right To Life Committee, Sierra Harris of ACCESS Women’s Health Justice and Tracy Weitz of UC-San Francisco spoke with California Healthline about a bill that would allow some non-physician health professionals to perform a specific type of first-trimester, non-surgical abortion.
‘So Many Moving Parts’ To Fit Together
The Department of Health Care Services announced this week that the Cal MediConnect duals demonstration project will not start until at least January, 2014, a delay from its previous expected launch date in October, 2013.
Advocates for seniors’ health care yesterday praised the decision, saying the extra three months will go a long way toward pulling all of the disparate pieces of Cal MediConnect into place.
“I think [the delay] comes from the general recognition that so many things have to happen, for so many people, speaking so many languages,” said Jack Hailey, project manager for Government Action and Communication Institute, and a contributor to the California Collaborative for Long Term Services and Supports.
Provider Cut Repeal Talk Turns to Veto Override
Two bills repealing the 2011 Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rate reductions have sailed through California legislative committees so far in an unusual way: They’ve been approved with unanimous votes in both houses from both parties.
But all those Yes votes could fail on a single No vote if Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes the bills. He has 50 million reasons every month to use his veto stamp. The savings to the state from the 10% across-the-board Medi-Cal provider rate cut amounts to an estimated $600 million a year.
Budget Revision May Bring Medi-Cal Expansion to a Head
With no detailed plan in place three months after the governor and Legislature agreed to expand Medi-Cal, health care advocates are proposing a compromise deal for dividing $1.4 billion a year in expected savings. The governor’s revised budget — due next week — might bring the issue to a head.
Compromise Proposed for Medi-Cal Expansion
A new plan is expected to be unveiled today offering a compromise approach to the state’s optional Medi-Cal expansion.
Health Access California, a not-for-profit health advocacy organization came up with the plan as a bridge between the state’s rough outline in the budget for two choices — a state-administered or county-administered approach.
More than one million Californians will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal under the optional expansion to those people making up to 138% of federal poverty level. The federal government will pay 100% of expansion costs for the first three years, and 90% thereafter.